Nickel

The first nickels were minted in 1866 as a five cent piece, but it wasn’t the first five cent coin. Prior to the nickel the US minted silver half dimes (half disme) worth five cents… and even paper currency worth five cents (funny story about the five cent paper currency that lead to the law preventing any living person from appearing on US money). The nickel comes in several variations, the Shield nickel (1866-1883), the Liberty Head nickel (1883-1913), the Buffalo nickel (1913-1938), and the Jefferson nickel (1938-present).